The research trail behind the game’s historical flavor, route choices, dangers, and survival context.
Source record compiled September 26–27, 2026. Verification labels describe how each source was captured during that research. Read the raw source file →
Every historical claim used in the game must trace to a numbered entry below. The numbering is fixed to the project’s source file so citations can point to the same record over time. “Used for” explains the specific facts or design context drawn from each source.
Historical records are incomplete and sources do not always agree. The game treats these points as uncertainty, not settled fact.
19 of 19 entries shown
National Park Service
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/death-on-trails.htmUsed for: Mortality context (“longest graveyard,” nearly 1 in 10 of about 350,000 emigrants, 1841–1869); cholera as the leading killer and roughly 30,000 disease deaths; drownings as the most dangerous activity; wagon accidents, accidental shootings, weather, and the assessment that Native Americans were usually among emigrants’ least serious problems.
Oregon-California Trails Association
https://octa-trails.org/articles/final-leg-of-the-oregon-trail/Used for: Columbia River rapids, gorge winds, portages, Hudson’s Bay Company bateaux at about $80, the Barlow Road’s 1846 opening and use by more than two-thirds of emigrants, and Fort Vancouver and John McLoughlin’s credit to penniless arrivals.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_of_the_Oregon_TrailUsed for: South Pass as a broad, gradual pass at about 7,417 feet; up to nine Sweetwater crossings; Green River ferries; the Sublette–Greenwood Cutoff; Bear River Divide and Big Hill; the 1852 McAuley Cutoff; Fort Bridger, Fort Hall, and Fort Boise.
National Park Service
http://home.nps.gov/orgs/1453/upload/National-Historic-Trails-Auto-Tour-Route-Interpretive-Guide-Across-Wyoming.pdfUsed for: The Green River’s reported reputation for claiming “a life a day” and details of the Sublette Cutoff.
Idaho Friends collection
https://www.idahofriends.org/uploads/5/2/5/3/52533793/threeislandcrossingnarrative.pdfUsed for: Three Island Crossing as the “most treacherous river crossing on the entire Trail,” rope-team crossings, Shoshone guides, and the August 21 schedule rule.
Historic Oregon City
https://historicoregoncity.org/2019/04/03/oregon-trail-mileposts/Used for: Blue Mountains grades, the Grande Ronde Valley, and the Whitman Mission through November 1847.
Offbeat Oregon History
http://offbeatoregon.com/1709b.grande-ronde-valley-used-oxen-dealership-460.htmlUsed for: Tribal traders exchanging two played-out oxen for one fresh animal.
Trail Research
https://trailresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/Oregon-Trails-Over-the-Blue-Mountains-1811-1852.pdfUsed for: Historical route context for the Oregon Trail crossings over the Blue Mountains.
Oregon-California Trails Association
https://octa-trails.org/articles/oregon-trail-mileposts/Used for: The Sublette Cutoff’s description as “arguably the worst stretch of the Trail.”
HISTORY.com
https://www.history.com/articles/donner-partyUsed for: The party’s late May 12, 1846 departure, delay on the Hastings Cutoff, and October 28 snowfall.
MotorTrend
https://www.motortrend.com/events/0906-4wd-the-sublette-cutoffUsed for: Additional route and terrain context for the Sublette Cutoff.
The Free Library
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Making+history+again+on+the+Oregon+Trail-a013840724Used for: The schedule rule that emigrants aimed to reach Independence Rock by July 4.
Simple English Wikipedia
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_TrailUsed for: John Unruh’s mortality estimate of about 4% (16,000 of 400,000), cholera’s ability to kill within about 12 hours of symptoms, and period descriptions and treatment of dysentery (“bloody flux,” with castor oil).
Oregon-California Trails Association
https://octa-trails.org/articles/life-and-death-on-the-oregon-trail/Used for: Cholera as the “unseen destroyer”—healthy in the morning, dead by evening—and river wheels wrecked by unseen rocks in slow, shallow water.
Association of Public Health Laboratories Blog
https://www.aphlblog.org/the-oregon-trail-may-be-long-gone-but-not-the-diseases-that-lined-its-path/Used for: The 1849 cholera epidemic that killed thousands along the Nebraska and Kansas portions of the trail.
Northern Arizona University — student work by Gilly H. and Kelly M.
https://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~pjp/LessonPlans/OregonTrailScience.pdfUsed for: Dysentery as understood to come from contaminated food or water, and rest with fluid and salt as the best available period treatment.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_TrailUsed for: Fort Hall’s 1837 sale by Nathaniel Wyeth to the Hudson’s Bay Company; the aid provided by Fort Hall, Fort Boise, and Fort Nez Percé; the context that most emigrants finished without extreme hardship; and how parties could split, with younger travelers going ahead for help.
Grateful American Foundation
https://gratefulamericanfoundation.org/what-famous-trial-had-its-first-wagon-depart-on-may-1st-1839/Used for: The Peoria Party’s May 1, 1839 departure with an “Oregon Or The Grave” flag; half of its 18 men giving up in Colorado; and the remaining nine reaching Oregon. Used in the game’s settle-at-fort flavor text.
RootsWeb
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~wytttp/history/countant/chapter27.htmUsed for: Parties wintering, abandoning wagons to continue on horseback, and meeting return parties from Oregon; Moses Harris guiding one in 1847; Brigham Young ordering men to remain at river crossings as ferrymen; and the broader fact that emigrants could stop, split up, winter over, or turn back instead of pressing on.
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All game code and assets are created from scratch. No code, text, or images are copied from the sources listed above. Companion-page imagery is generated for this project rather than hotlinked or copied from the web.
Generated art is reviewed before publication for historical accuracy: period-appropriate wagons, clothing, landscapes, travel direction, human and animal anatomy, yoked ox pairs, and clear separation between wagon teams.
The landscape illustration on this page is an original inline graphic created for Wagon Trail 1848. No external image files or hotlinked artwork are used.